Museo de Huelva. printer version

Alvarado, an important artist in the history of art of Huelva and especially for the Museum of Huelva, was director of the Huelva School of Painting and the Museum of Fine Arts.He was a member of the Málaga school of landscape painters, where he was taught by Muñoz Degrain and Moreno Carbonero. In 1920 he became head of drawing at the Huelva Teacher-Training College.

He essentially cultivated the landscape genre and seascapes in particular. This painting is a fine example.

The marshlands were the main focus in this painter's most typical landscapes. She captures a unique moment of a picture of the city, given that in the 1960s the area expanded south, which led to the closure of the canal and the disappearance of this berthing area when boats could no longer enter. She makes special use of the study of perspective and creates the illusion of spatial distance. In the foreground are the boats, absolute protagonists in the composition.

A highly important work as it was produced by one of the most representative artists of contemporary painting in Huelva and is proof of the exceptional skills demonstrated by the Spanish avant-garde painters. Produced during the painter's last surrealistic stage, it nevertheless contains elements that evoke his more symbolic creations. Its simple composition, shown in perspective, is achieved by the use an architecture of pure lines, recalling houses in desert areas. Both the setting and aridity depicted in the painting, combined with a certain melancholy, an interplay of light and shade and a predominantly warm palette, evoke the summer image of a hot, dry and somewhat mysterious atmosphere. In the centre of the composition sits a female figure, with a light white dress. Her head is partly covered by a piece of cloth that acts as a type of shade. This means that we cannot see the expression on her face, thus accentuating the aura of mystery surrounding the scene. In her restful attitude, she ignores the call of another figure with an indistinct face behind her.